Going in Circles
by TheLittleBlueFangirl
Summary: When Percie dragged Archimedes out of his cabin in the middle of the night, she didn't expect anything to change. But it did. And maybe now they'll finally stop going in circles. Just maybe something good will happen. Fem!Percie Male!Annabeth Genderbend Percabeth
1. 1-Godly Attractiveness

**Godly Attractiveness**

With a loud sigh, Percie turned onto her other side on the bed. The fountain was still in ruins since she'd destroyed it, but she was sure that she could ask Archimedes if it was repairable and get him to help her fix it. He was cool like that when she wasn't being a complete idiot. The walls were glowing dimly like they always had and although it was normally lulling; all it did was make her more alert.

She sat up and ducked out of bed to safely stretch without hitting her head on the top bunk.

Percie's hand touched her hair out of habit and she looked at it in the dimly lit darkness. It was even darker than Thad's hair and it waved sweetly down her shoulder in a way that made it resemble the waves of the sea. Looking at her own dark hair, she thought of the unruly blonde curls that adorned her best friend's head and smiled to herself.

Her smile grew wider at the thought of him and she threw her hair into a ponytail before slipping out of the cabin. Some nymphs woke up, emerging from the flora and frowned at her, but Percie smiled and beckoned them over.

"Are you guys any good at cooking?"

They nodded and she whispered her plan to them, the three tree nymphs grinning wildly before they ran off.

And that's how she ended up in front of the Athena cabin. She knew for a fact that Athena hated her guts and believed that she was bad news (which she was), but she whispered a prayer to the gods to not have all of Athena's children wake up and find her in their cabin. Opening the door as quietly as possible, Percie's hand twitched at refraining herself from running in and dragging her victim outside like she normally would. That's how she would've liked to do it, but she tiptoed over to a particular blonde's bed and tapped their shoulder lightly.

The arm that was connected to that particular shoulder shot up and clasped around her arm. She bit back a shriek of surprise as he groggily opened his eyes and sat up. He frowned at her and she shot him a smile as she tugged him silently out of his bed. Archimedes tapped her arm and she turned back around to find him gesturing to his chest and mouthing, 'can I grab a t-shirt first?'

Cheeks reddening slightly, she shook her head and mouthed back, 'no time for that' and dragged him out of the cabin.

As they walked, him being tugged by her, he suddenly whispered sharply, "The harpies are going to catch us!"

She smiled and shook her head. "I got some nymphs to fry some bacon for them."

Archimedes brows rose. "And how'd you get them to agree?"

"I promised that I'd water their trees for the next week."

They were silent for a long moment before he said softly, "That was actually pretty smart of you…"

She felt her jaw drop before her lips tugged up. "Was that a compliment?"

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain."

Laughing softly she finally released his arm and walked ahead, finding a spot to sit down.

It was a small grassy lookout that had the most stunning view of the ocean that she'd ever seen and Percie sighed softly as she heard her friend plop down beside her. The moon was still just high enough to reflect off the water's surface and the glow on the water was mesmerising. And the stars. She searched for the constellation of 'the Huntress' finding it and sighing softly. It was easily her favourite constellation.

"What's your favourite constellation?"

She hadn't even meant to ask aloud, but Percie caught his sideward smile as he answered. "I'm not sure, maybe 'Leo'… or 'Ursa Major'…"

"What about 'the Huntress'?"

He suddenly nodded softly. "I think that's my favourite actually…"

Percie could hear his thoughts: _she sacrificed a lot for us_. "Mmm…"

The sad, depressing silence nipped at them and she stared at her hands, consumed by thoughts that plagued her mind.

"Did you know that demigods get the best of their parents' genetics?"

She frowned at him. "Do you find something random and brainy to talk about _every_ time to fill the silence?"

"Just hear me out okay?" Archimedes sighed, "Because of the godly ichor, when we're created-"

"Are you saying created because you came from your mum's thoughts?"

He glared at her and continued. "-we naturally get the best features of both of our parents, since the godly part of us reflects on how we look."

"So… you're saying that demigods are more … _attractive_ than normal people."

Archimedes nodded and she collapsed onto her back, staring up at the sky.

"Are you kidding me? Damn I didn't get the memo."

He froze and she frowned softly as he turned to her with the deepest of furrows in his brow. "What are you talking about?"

"I didn't get the memo."

"I got that, but why are you saying that?"

She cocked a brow at him. "It's obvious."

"Okay, now you're just speaking gibberish."

"I'm not pretty," Percie said bluntly. "I don't have any of this 'Godly Attractiveness' that you speak of."

Archimedes promptly kicked her leg. Pain shot up her leg and she found herself hating how hard he kicked. She groaned and tried to kick back, but he grabbed her foot and stared her down with those stormy grey eyes of his.

"Where is that coming from?"

Percie tried to kick her foot out of his grip, but he held firmly. "It's common knowledge."

" _No_. Where is it coming from?"

She shied away from his gaze at the sharpness in his voice. "I don't know. Maybe the fact that I don't get any dates? That I've never had a single guy at camp give me a second look for anything except for my status?"

The blonde sighed. "You're stupid."

"Convince me then; what nice features do I have from my parents?" she asked coldly.

He smiled and pulled her closer to him by her leg, grabbing her hands and pulling her into a sitting position. Percie reminded herself to breathe, her face burning.

"You have your mum's face," he started touching her red cheeks and her chin carefully, "except… you have your dad's eyes and his cheekbones," (all gods had remarkably nice cheekbones), "and his hair; except prettier," he twirled some around his finger fondly, "You have the same twinkle in your eyes too; the same mischievous one that Poseidon has…" Archimedes' smile was starting to kill her; that sweet one that made her heart jump lightly in her chest.

"And," he was almost whispering, "you have a grin that's a mix between your mum's and your dad's too… it's sweet like Sally's and cheerful like Poseidon's… it's beautiful…"

They were so close now. His face was inches from hers and he was staring in such an unbashful way that she couldn't look away and found herself staring at his eyes. Stormy grey. She'd always found them daunting, but at that moment they were soft and sincere and Percie suddenly felt her cheeks heating up.

Gods, she wanted to kiss him. But she couldn't until she knew that she wasn't going to screw over something that was already strained because of their parents' rivalry (more Athena than Poseidon, but not the point).

Percie ducked her head and buried her face into his chest. His chest vibrated as he chuckled and she felt the very bare skin against her hands and her nose. Blushing harder she jumped away and buried her face in her hands. She knew that he was smiling and growled out, "Stop smiling, Wise Boy."

"Don't tell me what to do, Seaweed Brain."

Archimedes was laughing and she blindly punched him, the punch hitting him in the ribs. He groaned slightly and she uncovered her eyes to find him clutching it. She winced and muttered a quiet apology.

"It's okay… you just hit like a guy."

"I'm not sure to be complimented or insulted," Percie said.

He smiled. "You tell me."

She glared at him before falling onto her back again.

"You should've grabbed a shirt."

Archimedes fell down beside her and she knew he was glaring at the sky. "You told me not to."

"When do you listen to me?"

He seemed to consider it for a moment. "Good point."

Percie closed her eyes and sighed. She yawned too and curled into the grass. Sleep was starting to drag her under and she was fighting not to. " _Now_ I'm tired?"

"Yep."

When she rolled over again, she ran into his shirtless chest and seized up again. Archimedes laughed and wrapped an arm around her, tugging her into him. Percie felt herself blushing furiously, using the flat of her palms to try and push herself away from him.

"Let me go Archimedes…" she mumbled sleepily.

"Why should I?"

"Because if you keep hugging me I won't be able to stop myself from falling asleep…"

"You need some sleep anyway," Archimedes murmured.

She started to thrash about. "What if the camp gets attacked again? I can't be-"

"It's okay to be vulnerable!" he said firmly.

Percie was struck by the sharpness of his voice. He was almost never this harsh to her. "It's okay to be vulnerable, because you need to be at some point and it's better now when I'm here to protect you, then sometime in the middle of a war. Just be vulnerable okay?"

Smiling, she asked him an important question. "You'll protect me even if there's spiders?"

He gulped. "Even if there's spiders."

Her grin turned soft and she curled into him, allowing sleep and his warmth to overcome her.

Percie was asleep in seconds.

* * *

You know that state of being asleep enough not to open your eyes, but just enough to hear what everyone's saying? Well that's what state Percie was in.

And the noises that she heard were camera clicks and evil laughs as well as the sound of a satyr chortling in laughter. Someone was hushing them, the sound closer to her then the others.

"Shut up! Don't wake her up!"

A snicker as a hand stroked her hair. "But look at her! She's all cuddled up to you! It's so cute!"

The other voice got sharper. _"Connor."_

"Okay, calm down Archimedes! Bad enough that you've already threatened the entire male population of the camp if they even look at her; you don't need to get angry at me!"

She almost laughed. So it was Archimedes' fault? Sly, Archimedes, sly.

"So how'd this happen?"

Grover.

"She couldn't sleep, so she woke me up and dragged me out here."

"Wait… she went into your cabin?"

"Yes…"

"To wake you up?" Grover elaborated.

Percie could hear Archimedes getting confused. A nice change, she decided. "Yes…?"

"She risked getting caught and your mum's wrath just so you guys could have a nice late night talk," he said cheerily.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Why are you two so oblivious?" he retorted in a mutter and she knew he was probably massaging his forehead.

There was an awful crick in her neck and she moved slightly to stretch it out. Intakes of breath sounded and Percie felt herself laughing softly and she cracked open an eye. She saw the Stoll twins, Grover and Aphrodite girls giggling further away before she dared to look up to find Archimedes sitting up with pink dusting his cheeks, her head sitting in his lap. Chuckling she stood up and dusted herself off, before remembering what she was wearing and felt her neck flush. Tank top and short blue plaid pyjama shorts. Very conservative.

And then there was Archimedes sitting there in only pyjama shorts himself and she felt her neck flare more (but damn did he look nice shirtless). Stretching, she grinned sheepishly and did a little finger wave.

"I… should probably get into actual clothes… see you later!"

And she strode off. Normally she would've run, but Percie wasn't the sort of person who wore a bra to bed and she wasn't planning to draw more attention to herself.

Fifteen minutes later, Percie walked out of her cabin and went to the mess hall. She filled her plate Canadian Breakfast style and happily offered her father the largest strip of bacon before she grabbed a mug from the serving table and went over to her spot. A satyr almost knocked her off the seat by sitting next to her so hurriedly.

"So… Percie…"

She ran a hand over her face. "Oh my god, Grover!'

"What?! I have the right to ask why I found my two friends sleeping together like a cutesy couple."

"He already told you what happened!" she angrily shovelled some egg into her mouth.

He grinned. "How much of our conversation did you hear?"

"From Archimedes telling you guys to shut up…"

Grover seemed to almost smirk. "You know… you say his name differently."

"How?"

"Like it's important," his smirk grew.

She immersed herself in her cup of blue hot chocolate. "Your point?"

"Oh my gods, Percie; you're hopeless."

"Don't call me hopeless…" she muttered, pushing him with her shoulder.

He ruffled her hair which she'd let fall onto her shoulders and stood up. "Did something happen?"

"Did something _have_ to happen?"

"No, but I want to know."

She massaged her forehead, like she'd seen him do so many times. "I'll tell you later when I don't have to worry about people eavesdropping."

Grover perked up and nodded eagerly. "Sure! After you have sword-practise with Cabin 6!"

Percie froze. "What?"

"Did you forget that you had it with the Athena kids?"

Nodding, he patted her shoulder and offered her a smile. "Have fun"

And he left.

Percie hurriedly finished her breakfast and almost sprinted to the arena. No one was there yet, but she felt too much energy in her body from having to sneak around the day before to stop herself from maiming a few dummies. Lazily putting on a breastplate and taking the pen from her pocket, she uncapped Riptide and the first dummy that she saw was getting thrashed within seconds. Limbs were going everywhere and Percie got worried about the amount of energy that she had. She'd kill someone if she didn't get rid of more of it. Unlike her, they couldn't heal from something as easy as drenching themselves in water.

By the time that the Athena kids had gotten there, at least eight dummies were completely dismantled. She saw Archimedes chuckling and all of them smiling at what they found was a relatively common sight.

"Took you long enough!"

"Sorry that you didn't get to maim any more dummies," Malcom joked.

She grinned and gathered her hair on top of her head, capturing it into a ponytail. "Oh it's okay; they were pretty lame opponents. So how are we going to do it today?"

"What we normal do," one of the younger ones piped up, "we watch you and Archimedes spar and then pair off afterwards."

Percie smiled and nodded; the girl was only eleven and she'd given her a few tips before. She was a sweetie.

"Sure. We can do that right, can't we Archimedes?"

His lips tugged up crookedly and he nodded. "Are you ready?"

She quirked her eyebrow and gestured to the annihilated dummies. "Does this look like I'm not at least a little bit warmed up?"

Laughing, he shrugged and strapped on a breastplate. He grabbed a sword from the weapons rack. She frowned and placed a hand on her hip as he walked in the middle of the arena to where she was.

"No dagger?"

Archimedes smiled. "I need to get used to using a sword again."

"Good."

He frowned for a moment and stepped forward, fiddling with one of the straps of her breastplate. "Why are these always wonky with you?"

"It's a talent."

"I swear you do it to annoy me."

No, her brain whispered registering how close he was to her and how she could almost smell that lemon scent that came off his hair, it's just a happy accident. He stepped back and his face grew hard with concentration.

And they took their stances.

She struck first. And she knew that he'd anticipate her first strike like he always did. Uppercut; blocked. Mock undercut, slash at the leg; blocked. Percie could already see his tactic and almost smiled. Getting a bit predictable there, Wise Boy, her brain whispered. Finding some extra energy, she pushed off the ground and leapt over him (yes, she managed to leap over a five foot ten sixteen year old), vaulting over him and pushing him in the shoulder, flipping slightly through the air and managing to land on her feet as he stumbled slightly. If she hadn't been in the middle of a fight she would've squealed and done her infamous happy dance, but managed to keep on task. Nodding in approval, he jumped forward and struck at her left. She scowled and blocked it, sweat starting to form on her brow.

They were jumping back and forth, striking and blocking, sweat soaking their shirts to their backs. Archimedes was starting to get tired and she saw the fatigue in his eyes as he breathed heavily, analysing her. She grinned and ducked down as she swept her leg beneath his feet, to which he jumped and arched the sword over her head. Barely managing to block it, she pushed forward enough for their swords to stop touching and she rolled away to stand up.

"You're a bit slow today, Archimedes!"

He grinned and parried a strike from his right. "I'm just warming up!"

"Are you really, because it looks like you're trying to wear me out."

"Do you really think that's what I'm doing?" he asked.

Percie grinned, "Nope, but… I think I've already won."

"And why's that?"

"This."

Before he had time to react, she'd slammed the butt of her sword into his stomach with enough ferocity to make him stumble, swept her feet under his and knocked him to the ground. She jumped up and put a foot on his torso and had the point of her sword at his throat.

"Do you think I've won?"

Archimedes was breathing heavily, but managed a small smile. "Possibly… but when I can actually breathe again; we're having a rematch."

She laughed and retracted her sword from his throat and removed her foot, offering her hand. "Does your pride let you get a hand up from a girl?"

"I'm not sexist, Seaweed Brain."

Pulling him up with a small heave, they turned to the others and she hid a guffaw behind her hand.

They were all captivated and she knew that even though she was a daughter of Poseidon that they could appreciate her skill and her strategy by how unhinged their jaws were.

"How… did you _really_ just take _Archimedes Chase_ to the ground?"

Laughing softly, Percie nodded. "He was being predictable."

She got a punch in the arm for that, so she shoved him to the side. With a glare she turned back to them.

"How'd you do that flip?"

Percie shrugged. "I don't know…"

"You barely had a run off!" one -Penelope? – exclaimed, then tuning out as she tried to figure out the physics of it.

"And how'd you get the strength to hit him hard enough to make him stumble?"

She didn't answer that one, because it sounded like they doubted her strength. Sure she was lean, but Percie wasn't bulky in the muscle department.

More questions flew at her and she managed to answer them all (except for the ones that were downright insulting).

"Any other questions?"

Malcom smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you sure that Archimedes didn't let you beat him?"

The thought hadn't struck her and she turned to glare down her sparring partner. He put his hands up in surrender and she continued to scowl at him.

"Pair off!" she called and they dispersed as she kept glaring him down.

She took a few steps and poked him hard in the chest. "I swear to the gods that if you let me win-"

"I didn't let you win; you distracted me enough to pull that off."

Percie kept pushing and poking though. "How do I know that you aren't lying?!"

"Why would I lie?"

"It wouldn't be the first time now would it?!" she said furiously.

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"You left me completely in the dark about the fact that you've threatened all the boys in camp to keep away from me!"

"When did you hear that?"

"This morning!"

Archimedes looked worried. "How much of our conversation did you hear?"  
"From you telling them to shut up," he relaxed and she growled, "Why? Is there something else that I need to know?"

"Nope."

Angrily, she shoved him. "You're… infuriating!"

"You know that word?"

She clenched her fists and gritted out, "I'm going to go give your siblings some pointers while _you_ stop being such an arse."

He smirked. "Fine."

Turning on her heel, she wove through the pairs, stopping them at times and pointing out little things and correcting them. As she was telling one of them to stop favouring her right side, Percie glanced back to find Archimedes in a deep conversation with Malcom, his cheeks the slightest shade of pink. She frowned and went back to distracting herself with the other Athena kids. By the time that she was happy enough with everyone's stances, she barely had enough time to practise herself.

With a little sigh, she found a spot for herself and started trying to figure out how she'd done an flip over Archimedes with a dummy and a crash mat that she'd found pushed behind it. Unstrapping her armour, she warmed up a bit and attacked another dummy for a while before she returned to the other one and attempted to vault over it. And of course with that kelp brain of hers, she landed flat on her back on the other side.

So she tried again.

And again.

And again.

And again until she laid on her aching back.

Percie winced to herself and attempted to get up, only to have a hand help her up.

"Are you okay, Seaweed Brain?"

She nodded and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm just trying to work out how I did that flip thing over your shoulder…"

Archimedes frowned as if he was concentrating (which he always was) and analysed her like he'd done earlier. Percie shifted on her feet at how his eyes were nit-picking her. It wasn't that he hadn't done it before, but it made something strange flutter in her stomach. He paused.

"Sorry… I'm making you uncomfortable right?"

"A little bit," she muttered.

He murmured another apology.

"Well… you obviously have the strength to do it…"he said, "and enough of an adrenaline rush to pull it off…"

She pondered about it. "The last time I did something like that was with the Minotaur..."

"And you pulled that off because you were scared and let your impulses take over right?"

"Angry."

"What?" Archimedes frowned.

"I thought that my mom had just been killed and that he was about to kill my best friend too; I was angry not scared."

He nodded. "I don't know exactly how you did it, but I'm thinking that if you channel all your impulses and adrenaline into it, you might manage it. Got that?"

Nodding, she was about to try again, but Archimedes grabbed her shoulder. He grinned and gestured to himself.

"Might work better if you try with a real target."

She smiled and walked back a couple of steps before she closed her eyes and let her impulse and whatever adrenaline that remained in her body take over.

And then she stepped forward and leaped.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she vaulted over him and she somersaulted at thrice mid-air. Preparing for the land, she bent her knees and her feet touched the ground, the impact making her knees protest.

She looked up grinning like a maniac. Normal people wouldn't be able to do that sure (without intense training); but she was a demigod. And as the offspring of gods and humans the word 'impossible' is no longer valid.

And then like a normal person, she freaked out.

Jumping around happily, she let her hyperactive side take over and dropped her sword successfully without cutting herself open.

"Did you see that?!" she asked Archimedes, throwing her arms about.

He laughed and nodded.

"That was awesome! I actually just did that!" then her tone soured and she glared at him, "Why didn't you record that! That was probably one of the best things that I've ever done!"

"Are you _sure_ it's one of the best things?" he chuckled, probably thinking of all of her triumphs.

Nodding hyperactively, she spun around and jumped around wildly, trying to rid herself of the excitement.

When Percie turned back to say something else stupidly excitable, she froze at the smile on his face. It was soft and kind and almost un-Archimedes-like if it hadn't been for the fact that she'd seen his soft side before. She liked him best when he was soft and goofy.

So like any normal person; she tackled him into a hug.

He almost toppled over, but managed to regain his balance and hug her back with another little laugh, his armour making it a bit awkward. Looking up at him, she kept her dopey grin plastered on her face and he returned it. _Gods_ , his smile was cute. Suddenly realising their proximity, Percie jumped out of his arms, cheeks warm and tucked some hair behind her ear out of habit.

Glancing over at the others, a few looked over to the briefly, most of them with tiny smirks on their faces before they struck at their opponent again. She frowned and when Percie met eyes with Malcom, he just gave her this look that told her that he knew everything. Cheeks reddening, she turned away so he couldn't see the embarrassing colour on her face.

"I have to go."

Percie heard the frown in his voice. "There's still another few minutes of sword-training left."

"I have to meet up with someone."

"Who?" there was something sharp in his voice that almost made it sound more like a demand than a question.

"Grover; I have to talk to him about something."

Archimedes looked almost hurt and she winced. "It's just something that I can only talk to Grover about."

"And that is?"

She needed to think quickly so she blurted out the first thing that came to her head.

"Period stuff!"

Percie felt the need to crawl in a hole and die.

He spluttered. "What?"

"He knows tons about it for some weird reason," gods, where was that hole when she needed it? "Maybe nymphs and other godly creatures have them –I don't know-, but he's really nice to talk to about it. Gotta go, bye!"

And she grabbed her sword and sprinted out of the arena.

Using her Empathy link, she attempted to send Grover a wave of distress as she ran into the forest and sat by Juniper's tree. Apparently it worked when he came rushing into the clearing looking extremely worried. When he saw her sitting quietly with Juniper rubbing her back, he sighed in relief and sat next to her.

"What did you do?"

"I'm an idiot!" Juniper pulled her into a hug as she freaked out, trying to calm her.

Grover started patting her back too. "From the beginning."

And she told him, his girlfriend hitting him when he burst into hysterics.

Percie glared at him as he kept guffawing. "You're the worst best friend ever."

"At least you're not in love with me too."

To say the least, she spent a good fifteen minutes chasing him around the clearing, Juniper trying to get him to shut up as sweetly as possible, but when he started singing 'Percie loves Archimedes' she joined Percie quite happily, yelling out curses in Ancient Greek that 1) didn't make sense and 2) should never be repeated ever again.

The worst part was that she knew that he was speaking the truth.

Gods, he speaking the truth.

 **A/N Apologies for any people who were hoping that my next update would be a HTTYD fic, but I've loved this franchise since I was 10. I suffered through waiting an entire year for House of Hades and Blood of Olympus to come out, so I can somewhat sympathize** **for the people who read the first Percy Jackson book in 2005 and bought the new book every year. But I've always loved Percabeth and genderbend is sort of my thing so I hope you enjoyed this and will read the next chapter!**

 **-Blue**


	2. 2-You're An Idiot

**You're an Idiot**

"Gods, you're stupid, Percie," Archimedes muttered, disinfecting her wounds like she was a mortal.

She winced when he pressed down too hard on a cut. He sighed and gave her a stern look. "That was one of the stupidest things that you've done for a month."

"No it isn't; you're forgetting that I tried to verse the Stolls in a rigged hot chilli eating contest a couple of weeks ago."

He rolled his eyes and went back to dabbing the cuts with a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant. Percie cried out when he got to one of the larger gashes on her arm and he paused.

"I'll get you some nectar," and Archimedes stood up and left, only to return half a minute later with nectar.

Percie smiled at him and took it from him carefully, sipping the drink that had the sweet taste of blue chocolate chip cookies.

"Thanks, Archimedes," she murmured and offered him a tiny smile.

He smiled back before he returned to the task of tending to her wounds.

Percie hadn't expected Archimedes to be the one to tend to her. He was on the opposite team of Capture the Flag, so when he'd run over to where Willa had propped her unconscious body up after the Red Team ( _Archimedes'_ team) had just about mutilated her when she'd run off to capture the flag; she'd been surprised. He'd spent a full ten minutes interrogating Willa about her condition and even after that he'd insisted that he'd carry her to the infirmary (when she'd woken up and heard him insist had made her neck flush). To say while he was carrying her that she blushed would be an understatement. She hid her face as much as possible during the entire twelve minutes of him carrying her.

As she took another sip, he carefully picked up her arm and looked at the large cut that marred her flesh. He winced and she knew that it was bad.

"This needs stitches."

"Can't I just stand in water for a couple of minutes?"

Archimedes chewed at his bottom lip. "I don't know if that'll work, it's mainly poison and minor wounds that it works on; you're legitimately _maimed_ right now."

She lifted her other arm, which throbbed as she touched her face out of habit. He shook his head at her. "You only have a couple of scratches on your face."

Percie sighed in relief and felt her anxiety fall; she didn't need to look like she was thrown in a giant paper shredder in front of the extremely good-looking son of Athena (even though she'd probably looked worse in front of him before; she was a freaking _guinea pig_ once for gods' sake).

"Do you know how to stitch up someone?"

He gave her a look and she shut up, muttering an apology. Of course he knew how to; he was Archimedes don't-know-his-middle-name Chase. While he busied himself with finding what he needed, Percie found a glass of water by her bedside and smirked. Pouring some onto her arm, she winced at first until the water felt like a cool, relaxing sensation as it healed to a smaller, shallower cut that by no means needed stitching.

Archimedes sat down beside her again and took her arm before freezing. "I shouldn't have left water by your bedside should I?"

"You know for someone who is wise by birthright; you aren't always very wise."

"This was supposed to be teaching you a lesson, Seaweed Brain," he muttered.

She crossed her arms and winced. "If you wanted me to heal painfully slow like a mortal you wouldn't give me nectar or water."

He ran a hand over his face. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Well… you can get me to shut up and keep patching me up," Percie offered.

Smiling, Archimedes nodded. "Sure… you know that means that you have to shut up right?"

"Well… that's not going to happen, but I can try."

He laughed and went back to dabbing her wounds with a cotton ball. She went back to biting her lip and every time that she flinched, he'd be gentler with the next cut. He didn't let it on, but he was a softie. When they'd left Cerberus alone on that first quest he'd been heartbroken and it always killed him when he had to leave someone behind- not as much as Percie but still more than he'd like to admit. Percie smiled and as he carefully lifted her leg onto his lap, he said something that made her grin grow further.

"You're lucky that you're my favourite idiot."

She cocked her head. "Favourite?"

"Yep."

"Idiot?"

"Well… you _act_ like an idiot, but you're actually pretty smart."

"I'm not smart."

Archimedes rolled his eyes. "You're smart in a different kind of way. You have amazing intuition and you think fast when it counts."

She took that in and smiled. "Okay… but I'm still stupid in the average way."

"Oh yeah, no doubt about it."

"Oi!" Percie reached forward and hit his arm only to freeze as she felt her stomach sting painfully.

He helped her lie down and looked at the scratches in her t-shirt. Archimedes frowned and looked up at her.

"You got scratched in the stomach?"

"Apparently," Percie muttered.

As he was about to lift the hem of her shirt up to check the damage, she swatted his hand away.  
"Percie!" he scolded, "I need to check it!"

"I can handle it myself!"

Now it wasn't that she didn't want him to help her, she just didn't want him to see her stomach. Sure she wasn't flabby or anything, but Percie was still a girl and still as self-conscious as the average fifteen year-old. And she had a long scar on her hip that she didn't particularly want him to see either.

"Percie just let me take a look!"

"No!" she was thrashing away from his touch and he had to literally sit on her and grab hold of her wrists to stop her, even then she kept kicking about, until she'd exhausted herself.

He was breathing heavily and so was she, all her cuts stinging and her bruises throbbing. Slowly he got off of her, still holding her wrists. "Will you let me have a look at it or are you going to make me go grab Willa or one of the other medics?"

"But I have scars-"

"Everyone has scars. You've seen the ones on my chest-"

"-the ones that you got protecting me," she muttered bitterly, remembering that look of pain on his face as he took the blow for her.

Archimedes smiled. "I don't regret it either. Now will you let me assess the damage?"

Slowly, she nodded. It was the least she could do. He'd done so much for her and all he was asking for was her to let him help her.

The hem of her shirt lifted and he pulled it up until it rested half way up her ribcage.

"Crap."

She propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at the mess that was her stomach. There were large bruises everywhere and three large gashes overcrossing each other. If it wasn't for the dried blood that hadn't flaked off when she'd been thrashing around, she would've been bleeding.

"Oh…"

Her 'nurse' was fuming. His fists were clenched tightly and if his curly bangs weren't covering his eyes, she knew that she would've seen him glowering. Archimedes had been so gentle so little ago, that she almost couldn't believe it.

"Archimedes…"his fists clenched tighter, "what's wrong?"

"Someone on my team did this…" he ground out darkly, "they overstepped the boundaries of one of the main rules and they freaking _know_ …"

She frowned. "Know what?"

 _"_ _Nothing."_

Percie flinched at the harshness in his voice; it was like a slap to the face. She closed her eyes and the sharp voice started twirling around in her mind. It ate at her in the few seconds that it had to morph and spiral into a monster worse than anything that dwelled in the depths of Tartarus.

She barely noticed the bed shifting as arms encircled her and pulled her into a hard chest, a hand pulling her shirt down to cover the vicious bruising. He pulled her further into his lap and buried his face into her hair. Her breath hitched in surprise. Archimedes was never this affectionate. _Eve_ r.

"I'm sorry," his muffled voice came from near her neck.

"It's okay," Percie mumbled, "you were just being worried."

Archimedes removed his face from her hair. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

She turned around in his lap, ignoring her muscles protesting and smiled up (yes, he was a good three or four inches taller than her) at him. Not saying a word she wrapped her arms around him and practically collapsed into him.

He was warm and even though heat doesn't heal, it felt like his did and Percie liked that. She -honest to god- loved this feeling. It was warm and gentle and so –almost unbearably- sweet that she didn't want it to ever stop.

Hand stroking her hair softly, he asked. "Who did that to your stomach?"

She chuckled and shook her head into his chest. "I don't know."

"You do."

"Yeah, but you'll kill them."

He laughed. "Probably."

"Now mind to tell me why you hulked out so much?"

Archimedes froze like he had earlier and when she pulled away from his chest; his cheeks were the most lovable shade of pink. Damn he was adorable as… (well she was told not to use that word unless in dire circumstances {Sally was brutal when it came to swearing}, so she substituted it with 'fork') He was adorable as fork.

Giggling softly, she leant over him and grabbed a cotton ball frowning at it.

"You know, I don't know why you didn't just use salt water to clean my cuts; you'd be disinfecting my cuts and I'd be healing at the same time."

The colour in his cheeks lessened. "But then you wouldn't be learning a lesson would you?"

"Well I'm not learning one anyway."

"And why's that?" the adorable curiosity in his eyes forced her impulsiveness to take over.

"Because I have a cute boy looking after me."

His ears went slightly pink and she felt her own face burn up as her brain processed what she just said. Idiot, she scolded herself, you're a freaking idiot. Turning her face away from him, she slid out of his lap, only leaving her left leg there. Percie tried to calm her blush.

"Could you finish disinfecting my leg?"

"Sure."

They were silent as he cleaned up her leg, his hands careful and soft against her skin. Some of the smaller cuts were already healing from the nectar and when he was done with her leg, he smiled at her and started to bandage up the worst of her gashes.

He looked up and grinned in that dreadfully handsome way.

"I need to clean your face, Seaweed Brain."

"Okay," she muttered.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him grab a fresh cotton ball and pour some disinfectant on it before turning to her and cupping her face with his other hand. She glanced up and he smiled a tiny smile, gently caressing her cheeks with the white ball. Percie's cheeks must've been red, but she wasn't sure anymore; it had happened so many times in the past half hour that she couldn't tell. Casting her gaze to the floor, she knew that she would do something stupid with the close proximity of their faces.

Something soft and the slightest bit chapped brushed against her cheek the moment that the cotton ball was removed and she felt her eyes widen as she looked up to see Archimedes grinning softly at her, his face practically glowing (and no; it wasn't just his gorgeous Californian tan). And of course being the shit that he was, he looked like something threw a liquefied mix of everything cute on his face and used it as moisturiser. He was being _that_ cute.

"I'll go get Willa so she can check out your stomach."

Percie felt him lightly bring her bottom jaw to her top with his fingertips and he moved away, brushing the curtain aside.

She struggled out of the sickbed and grabbed his wrist.

"What did you mean by 'you're my favourite idiot'?"

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Y-you mean something else by it. I don't know what it is, but you mean something else and I want to know what."

Archimedes sighed softly. "Why can't you be a complete idiot?"

Shrugging at him, she grinned as he lowered his gaze to hers again and took a deep breath. "When I'm calling you an idiot, I'm not joking; you're an idiot…

"But… for some reason I'm okay with that and… you're one of my top priorities."

Percie's brow furrowed

"What do you me-?"

"I mean," he said gently -so, so gently, "that you always come first."

The words took a while to sink into her brain and when they did, she smiled to herself. Archimedes could be an uptight jackass sometimes, but when he was vulnerable like this she couldn't help but feel lucky. He was letting her see this more tender side and she wasn't going to exploit it. She just couldn't.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Putting me on the top of your priority list."

Shaking his head, he said, "Like it was my choice; you just butt into my life like it's nothing."

"My job is to make your life difficult," she said, "and I pride myself in doing it well."

"Putting on your fancy-talk aren't you?"

Percie smirked. "Damn straight I am! And gods is it tiring! How do you do this every day?"

He chuckled with a little shrug and she felt her smirk turn back into a genuine smile. Percy may not have known what all these weird feelings and thoughts meant but when she said, "When I get out of here we are going to have a proper talk okay?" she'd meant it. (Even though she didn't know what that would entail).

Archimedes had this weird look in his eyes when he nodded.

"Bye then, Seaweed Brain," he smiled again.

She reached up and ruffled his curls (those sweet loose curls that were soft as silk), ignoring the pain that shot up her side and into her arm. "Bye, Wise Boy."

He must've seen the flash of pain in her eyes, because he muttered so quietly that she barely heard him. "Don't push yourself, Percie; I just made it abundantly clear that I don't like seeing you hurt."

Percie froze for a long moment and looked at him properly. He was tall, athletic, curly haired and strong, but there was this weakness in his frame. One that she swore that she was the only one who got to see it.

And that weakness was for her.

Smiling she nodded. "I won't."

He left with only one more small smile in her direction, the curtain thrown open seconds later for Willa to walk in with a clipboard and a knowing smile. She felt her ears go pink at the idea of how many people might how overheard their conversation.

"How much did you hear?"

"All of it."

Percie groaned and turned to let herself fall stomach first on the sickbed. And of course with her bruising it hurt like hell. She cried out and turned onto her back, Willa rushing forward and propping her up against the bed head.

"I can see what he means; you are stupid."

She scowled at her. "Don't call me stupid."

"Oh so he can and I can't? Okay, I get it; it's a couple thing."

"We're not a couple!"

Willa laughed as she lifted up Percie's shirt and inspected the bruising. "You wish you were."

"Shut up!"

Stupid medic was enjoying every moment of this.

They sat in silence for a while as the medic hurried around trying to find some sort of ointment for her bruise. When she found it, she placed it on the bedside and grinned mischievously. "You need to apply this twice a day on your stomach, try and avoid getting it in any cuts that haven't closed yet; it'll hurt like hell."

"Thanks."

"Do you want me to apply it or are you okay with doing it?"

"I'll do it," Percie muttered, opening the jar and dipping her fingers in the cool ointment, slowly applying it to her skin only to get some in a cut and hiss like a hydra.

Willa rolled her eyes and started doing it for her. "I'll do it if you're so incapable of doing such a simple task. Maybe I should mention this to Archimedes… he'd do it properly."

"Shut up."

"At least he'd be careful," she muttered.

Percie was really starting to dislike the -usually likeable- child of Apollo.

"By the way I've been strictly ordered to keep you in here for a week."

"WHAT?!"

Willa covered her mouth. "We have people _sleeping_ in here you know!"

Percie's scowl deepened. Whoever thought that they could keep her looked up in an infirmary for a week was sorely mistaken. Like hell, she'd stay in there that long!

"Who ordered you?"

She laughed nervously and rested a hand on the side of her neck. "Archimedes…"

"That little sh-"

A hand that was starting to become uncomfortably familiar with her mouth was covering her trap again. "Watch your tongue!"

"Fine."

"You would've been in here for a few days anyway, but he was insistent that you stayed longer."

"And why would that be?" she snarled.

With a sigh, the medic rubbed between her brows. "How does he deal with you?"

"Answer the question!" Percie demanded.

"Because he cares," she said firmly, before gently helping her lie down. "Now sleep; you need some."

She yawned. "I don't want to go to sleep."

"Go to sleep."

"But I don't wanna-"

"I'll grab Archimedes."

That shut her up and she glared at Willa before closing her eyes and sighing.

As she tried to fall asleep, she heard the optimistic blonde rustling about, putting things away. Percie opened her eyes again and stared at the table beside her. There was the glass still partially filled with water and the empty milkshake glass that had held her nectar. She turned onto her other side and ignored the ache that it caused.

"Hey Willa?"

She stopped potting and stilled. "Yes?"

"Is it boring in the infirmary?"

"I don't know; not for me, but I'm a medic and I'm always busy with something. Why'd you ask?"  
With the driest tone that she could muster, Percie replied, "I'm in here for a _week_."

"If it helps, I'm pretty sure that Archimedes will bring you breakfast tomorrow morning." There was something sly in her voice that she tried her best to ignore.

"Oh…"

"Don't get too excited. But… I'm pretty sure he will. You have no idea how much he flipped out when he found out that you were injured."

She felt herself go quiet as Willa gently said, "If you guys knew how much you cared about each other, your lives would be so much easier."

"He doesn't care that mu-"

"Percie?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up, go to sleep and get out of your denial," she said, "doctor's orders."

Archimedes didn't care that much did he? Sure he had his protective moments, but surely, Percy thought, he didn't care _that_ much. He couldn't. She was positive that he didn't.

'I'm not in denial-"

"Shut up and sleep."

She sighed and got comfortable. "Can I request something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you make sure not to tell anyone about the conversation I had with him?"

Willa smiled. "I think I can do that. Now sleep, before I have to tell him to come in here and make you."

"Okay."

This time when Percie closed her eyes they didn't open for another thirteen hours.

* * *

And when she woke up -just as Willa had foretold- Archimedes sat by her bedside with a fresh glass full of nectar, blue chocolate chip pancakes and held a Greek copy of _Odyssey_. Percy smiled and attempted to sit up only to squeak in response to the pain that shot through her stomach. At the speed of light, he put down his book and his hands were carefully lifting her into a sitting position.

"You're an idiot."

She chuckled even though it hurt. "'Morning."

"And you're a lost cause."

Percie shrugged. "You still try anyway."

He smiled and passed her the milkshake glass full of nectar. She tried –barely- to not scull it down, but as it was, she was thirsty after her long sleep. Archimedes was rolling his eyes as she drank the last few drops and stared at the now empty glass.

"Thirsty?"

"Not anymore. Though…" she looked at the blue pancakes that sat two feet away, "I wouldn't mind some pancakes…"

Archimedes placed the plate in her lap and gave her a fork and knife with a firm look. "No eating them taco-style."

"Why not?'

"Because that just proves how stupid you are."

She scowled at him and sawed off a large chunk of pancake, shovelling it into her mouth. And it tasted amazing.

"This is delicious!" Her tastebuds tingled. "Did you get these from the mess hall?"

Archimedes rubbed his neck. "I could've gotten them from there if I asked… but I made them myself."

"Did you wake up early to make me breakfast?" Her heart warmed as did the smile that was on her face.

"I guess you can say that…" Archimedes muttered.

She blushed and looked down at her plate. Stupidly sweet, spawn of Athena. When she picked up her fork again, Percie took her time savouring the food with a dopey smile on her face.

When Percie was done, he had this look on his face. One that made him look younger and some of the acute stress lines on his face to disappear.

"You know…" she started, expression hardening, "a little bird told me that you demanded that I stay here twice as long as I need to."

His eyes widened before he yelled, "WILLA!"  
"I'M SORRY, BUT SHE'S SCARY!"

She stood up from her bed and he got to his feet too. "And all I can say is; I'm pissed off now."

It didn't matter that she had injuries or that he just had her best interest in mind, she just lunged at him. He quickly avoided her and the skittered around the sickbed, Percie lagging behind, but making up for it every time that she punched or kicked him.

And after Percie had bashed him up to the extent that she was happy with, she demanded that he taught her how to make blue chocolate chip pancakes.

* * *

Two hours and thirteen minutes later Archimedes laughing at the bin that was now full of failed pancake batches. And when she finally made a successful batch, she tackled him in a hug and would've kissed him (on the cheek) if the harpies didn't run in and chase them out of the kitchen (dumb harpies), the two of them barely managing to save the pancakes as they ran out in a hurry.

They were laughing like idiots and probably looked stupid both of them covered in flour as they sprinted through camp holding a plate of blue pancakes drowned in maple syrup.

Everything was aching and throbbing but she ignored it, until they found a spot under an oak tree on the edge of the forest. The two of them sat down and he suddenly hit himself in the forehead.

"What's wrong?"

"You were supposed to be having some bedrest today!"

She took a pancake and started to eat it taco-style. "I don't see what's wrong with this."

"You aren't resting!" he said, exasperatedly.

Percie smiled and finished her pancake taco. "Fine, I'll make a deal with you; if you can eat more pancake tacos than me in a minute, I'll have a nap."

"No."

"Killjoy… fine, let me eat two more pancakes and then I'll rest."

He sighed, but nodded and took a pancake himself.

Apparently he was terrible at eating pancake tacos, so she laughed and demonstrated for him. He got better of course, but it was a mess and she was surprised that he didn't get any syrup on his denim khaki shorts. She licked the syrup off her fingers and quietly asked him if he was going to eat anymore. He frowned and shook his head.

"Could you take me back to the infirmary then?"

"Tired?" she nodded and yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

His lean arms slipped underneath her knees and her back. "What are you doing?"

"You need to rest so I'll carry you."

She made a noise of objection and pushed at his chest as he stood up. "I have dignity!"

"No you don't."

Of course he saw through that. Percie sighed. "But you do."

"And?"

"And put me the Hades down!"

Archimedes shook his head and started walking.

"What about the plate?!"

"It'll get back to the kitchen by itself."

"It doesn't have fricking legs!"

He rolled his eyes. "It's like your sword, Seaweed Brain."

"Oh."

Percie went back to trying to struggle out of his arms. He sighed and stood still, staring down at her firmly. Not a glare, but this firm protective way that he'd seemed to have mastered over the last twenty four hours. She refused to wither under his gaze and kept fighting against him. Grip tightening, he brought her closer to his chest, taking the full impact of her flaying limbs.

"Why aren't you letting me take you there?"

"Because _you_ are forgetting your stupid principles!"

He held her more firmly. "What are you talking about?"  
"Why isn't your stupid pride kicking in?!"

"What's your problem? I didn't see _anything_ belittling in carrying my friend because she's hurt and tired."

She stopped thrashing and buried her face in his shirt. "I don't know okay? I just-"

"You're tired, sore and need some rest," Archimedes murmured, shifting his arms so that he almost cradled her, "just try to get some sleep okay?"

Percie sighed softly and curled into him, hands gripping his shirt gently as he started walking again. "Okay…"

As she closed her eyes she asked quietly. "Am I too heavy?"

"No."

"Are you comfortable too?"

He lifted her slightly, leaning down at the same time and she felt his bangs nod against her shoulder.

"When we get to the infirmary could you get Willa to but some ointment on my stomach?"

Nodding into her shoulder again, she felt him stand upright again.

Archimedes curved his arms around her more securely as he keep walking and she settled into him, one hand still gripped his shirt, the other resting on his chest. And underneath that other hand, she felt the drum of his heartbeat beneath her fingertips. The beat was strong and steady, possibly slightly faster than it was supposed to be, but she figured in her half-asleep daze that it was her imagination.

Warmth radiated off of him and seeped into her frame as she fell into darkness. And that warmth of his guided her into the welcoming arms of sleep, a light kiss to the top of her head pushing her forward those last few steps.

The sweet nothingness of sleep overwhelmed her, warmth seeping into the blackness and holding her tight, keeping her safe from monsters that lurked in the dark.

It kept her safe from herself.

 **A/N If any one is wandering why this story is being posted all in one day, its because I've had this sitting in my fanfiction folder for a month and I've finally found the time and the effort to post this. And I hope you guys enjoyed the fluffy bits in this chapter!**

 **-Blue**


	3. 3-I'm a Distraction

**I'm a Distraction?**

With the largest of smiles on her face, Percie sprinted from the dining pavilion after breakfast towards the Athena Cabin like she'd done weeks ago in the middle of the night. After a week of Archimedes taking her out of the infirmary everyday she was free. (Not that she didn't like him taking her out, but she wanted to have her independency back). Willa had shooed her out of the infirmary, saying that she had some patients to take care of, although there was no one else there. Suspicious, but she'd ignored it. Percie already had something to either look forward to or dread.

Today they'd get to finally talk.

Percie didn't exactly know why she wanted to talk to him though. Maybe it was his weird affectionate side that had come out over the last two weeks. Or the fact that her heart raced every time that she saw him (Willa had laughed when she asked her about it, wondering if she was sick). But it might have also been that she wanted to know what was happening. That was all she wanted.

And it was weird. Because every time she saw him, something else about him seemed more attractive than it had the last time that she'd seen him. Like when the daughter of Poseidon looked into his eyes, the whirls of comforting grey drew her in and made her breath catch. When one of his curls stuck up at an odd endearing angle, she wanted to tug at it softly and put it back into place or just leave it to sit in that adorable position for her own entertainment. The scars that marred his skin were barely noticeable, but they were beginning to seem peculiarly… beautiful. In a masculine way of course, but beautiful.

Running the last dozen metres to Cabin 6, she almost had a head-on collision with Malcom who smiled (more like smirked) at her appearance.

"Is Archimedes here?"

"Yep, just working on some blueprints. You're free to go in," he said, still smiling.

When she walked in, there was no one there but someone facing away from her with sweetly curled blonde hair. Her face reddened slightly.

"But surely boys and girls aren't allowed to be alone in a cab-"

"See ya!" and he ran off before she could finish.

Well she wasn't much of rule follower anyway.

She looked around the cabin, not noticing a single difference since the last time that she'd been there before Archimedes' quest for the Labyrinth. The bunk beds were still shoved against the walls, workbenches, 3D building models, weapons and anything else that a child of Athena needed dominating a majority of the cabins space. Slowly walking over to him, she frowned at how he hadn't seemed to have noticed her. Percie stopped just behind his chair as he seemed to inspect part of a design for some strange looking Swiss army knife-like device.

"Watcha doing?"

He spun around and she caught sight of the slight bags underneath his eyes; whatever the design was it was interfering with his sleep.

"Have you been sleeping okay? You look tired," Percie said softly, moving her gaze away before she drowned in the pools of wispy grey.

When he finally spoke, his voice was slightly husky from lack of use and made her breath hitch just the slightest bit. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm out of the infirmary, so I thought that I'd come and visit."

Looking up, Archimedes was smiling to himself for a moment. "Well it's nice to see that you're as annoying and stupid as ever."

"Thank y- HEY!" she slapped his shoulder and he chuckled.

Percie went over to a desk chair and sat down cross-legged on it twiddling with her thumbs.

After a long minute of silence only broken by the sound of a pencil against paper, she spoke up again.

"So… what are you designing?"

"It's this version of a Swiss army knife," she smiled at the fact that she'd gotten that much right, "which is specifically made for demigods. To a normal mortal it will look like a plain Swiss army knife, but it has all these little compartments and extra uses. Like it has a Greek fire dispenser, a small vial of poison, a storage compartment for drachmas-"

He kept rambling on about and she listened, trying not to ask the obvious answer of; how will it contain all of this when it's half the size of someone's hand? But he had this sweet twinkle in his eyes as he rambled that kept her mouth shut and made listening to him so much easier.

Archimedes suddenly stopped and frowned, before going back to working on the design. She sighed and stood up looking at some of the other inventions that were crammed onto one large bookshelf. One of them in particular caught her eye and she picked it up carefully staring at it.

"What's this?"

She saw him look up at her out of the corner of her eye. "Oh that's a cube."

"I know that, but what does it do?"

"It has a compartment for Greek fire, but it's impractical; it's way too big. Which is why I've started ov-"

Turning to him, her mouth was wide with amazement. "You made this?"

His cheeks turned slightly pink. "Yeah, but it took me a while since I'm not that great at making things. Thinking them up is the easy part, but making them is hard."

Percie stared at the small cube in her hands, handling it more carefully. "This is incredible."

Setting it back on the shelf, she continued investigating the inventions in silence, leaving Archimedes to continue with his work.

After about fifteen minutes she heard Archimedes groan and throw his pencil down. She looked back over to him and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I can't think straight! You're being distracting!"

"How am I being distracting? I'm being _quiet_."

He shook his head furiously, his curls flying everywhere. "No, I can't get my thoughts together and your entire being is distracting."

"I'm not!"

"You are! And you even know why!"

"I don-"

He cut her off sharply. "What does a first priority do, Percie?"

She swore that he was asking her trick questions now. "It comes first… before everything else."

"Right. And what or who is my first priority?'

"Me- oh…"

Percie looked at him and he nodded to confirm her thought, causing her to hit herself in the forehead with the heel of her palm.

"Sorry, I forgot for a moment; I can leave if you want."

Not a single word left his lips, so she took that as her cue to leave.

Muttering an apology, she headed towards the door only for him to grab her wrist.

"Who said that I wanted you to leave?"

"I thought-"

"Seaweed Brain, you thought wrong, okay? Just because you're distracting doesn't mean that it's necessarily a bad thing. I… I probably need a break anyway."

Percie smiled. "When did you last take a break?"

"Before two this morning I think… I couldn't sleep."

"Bad dreams?"

He shook his head. "I couldn't stop thinking, so I thought that I might as well continue with this."

A thought struck her. "You haven't eaten have you?"

"No, I sort of forgot, but there's a mini fridge and a cupboard underneath one of the work tables-"

She rushed over to said table before he could finish and found some two minute noodles and threw a can of sprite at him, before grabbing herself a coke. She put the noodles in a microwave (the cabin had everything apparently) and sat down on the bunk that she knew was his.

He was quiet so as she popped open her can of coke, she looked up at him to find him staring at her in confusion.

"What?"

"Has Sally been rubbing off on you?"

Percie smiled. "Maybe… but you looked after me for an entire week so I think I can at least do this."

"You know it would take you years to get even with me; I've saved your butt so many times that it's ridiculous."

She kicked him lightly. "Shut up; I'm helping you right now and this is all I get?"

"Fine; thank you."

Grinning, she said, "You're welcome."

"So…" she said, "let me get this straight; I'm a distraction?"

"Yep."

"And how am I a distraction?" she inquired.

He smiled and shook his head, "You wouldn't understand."

"Explain."

Archimedes looked cute as he thought about it, before breathing out and shaking his head.

"Why won't you tell me?"

He frowned at her, as he saw her body starting to shake with pint up frustration. When he stood up and walked over to her, his hand barely touching her shoulder, Percie shoved him away angrily. She was sick of this. Going around in circles was starting to do her head in. She got to her feet and stormed out of the cabin, leaving him there stunned.

The sound of him rushing after her was a nice change from her always chasing after him, but she stomped away faster. This time when Archimedes' hand touched her shoulder, she spun around and fisted the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to her eyelevel.

"What is with you?" she asked in exasperation, "you don't tell me anything do you? You kissed me only a few months ago, you act all cute and sweet, you almost kissed me only a fortnight ago, you got all weird around Richard and you're always there just being you and its driving me insane! Whatever is happening right now is killing me; I want answers."

He sighed and smiled slightly. "You're finally asking the right questions."

Archimedes placed his hands on her wrists, but didn't remove them from his shirt, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles against her skin instead. That thing that sat in her chest? Her heart? Yeah, that thing? It was beating erratically, like it was trying to tear something inside of her. Like bust a rib or two.

"Let's see," he started, smiling softly, "Has anyone ever told you what people do when they like you?"

"They say that they tease you a lot, but… you tease me a lot and you don't-"

He sighed. "Don't listen to yourself; you're stupid. So I'm going to make it clear right now; I like you Percie. As more than a friend."

Percie stared at him wide eyed with her heart hammering against her chest. She couldn't form any thought other than, 'Archimedes likes me'.

And he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him, leaning his head down to let their lips meet. She melted and found her arms reaching up and curling around his neck, fingers burying themselves in his golden curls. The kiss was gentle and chaste, their lips moving softly against each other. When they pulled away for air he smiled at her and was about to kiss her again when she pushed him away firmly.

"No. You don't get to do that! You stole my first and second kiss you asshole! So…" Percie grinned widely, grabbing him by the collar, "you are going to have to make up for that."

Archimedes smiled. "And how do I make up for such a horrible crime?"

"You do my dishwashing duties for a month."

"Okay and…?"

Smirking slightly, she tugged him a little bit closer again. "I guess you can give me the right to kiss you all the time…"

"I think I can do that…" and before their lips could touch, their foreheads collided and they pulled back with groans of pain and laughed at themselves.

"Let's just establish that trying to be flirty like this isn't our thing," he muttered and she laughed.

"I guess not."

A cheeky smile adorned Archimedes' face as he pulled her closer by the waist again and let one hand cup her face. "Although I still like the kissing part."

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, "I'm all for that."

He chuckled and their noses brushed as he leant forward…

A foghorn in their ears made them fly apart to blush viciously at the sight of practically all the camp jumping out of the forest with binoculars around their necks, the Stolls being the ones with the foghorns. Even Chiron was there smiling with Mr D grumbling at them. Percie might've been blushing to the roots of her hair, because she was just about dying.

"You were spying on us!" Archimedes' face rivalled her own.

"We've been waiting for like three years for this!" Connor yelled, "If you'd made a move earlier you could've avoided this!"

The child of Athena frowned. "I made plenty of moves it was this idiot-"

"Hey! I'm not completely the one to blame! You were the one who was being all doe-eyed for-"

"Was not!"  
"Was too!"

They kept bickering and eventually Clarisse and Grover moved them apart before either of them pulled out a weapon. Everyone was rolling their eyes, but were still fawning over them as they glared at each other. Archimedes broke free of Clarisse's hold and turned to Malcom. "You set this up didn't you?"

"No… I just thought it would be convenient to leave you two alone for a while…"

A smile suddenly broke onto the blonde's face. "Thanks, Mal."

Percie was glaring at her boyfriend (he was her boyfriend now, wasn't he?) and muttering curses under her breathe about always being interrupted.

"At least it wasn't a volcano this time," Grover whispered to her.

She nodded. "True…"

Suddenly Archimedes sighed and ran a hand through his hair, before walking forward and grabbing Percie by the waist to throw her over his shoulder. She shrieked and beat at his back, yelling at him to put her down as he stalked towards the beach, the other campers laughing.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you away."

Percie hit his back harder. "Why?"

"Think Percie."

She looked up at everyone with a questioning look and they screamed at her, "TO MAKE OUT."

"Oh."

No longer struggling, she sort of flopped. "I'm good now guys! Resume your activities… I'm just going to enjoy the view back here!"

They laughed and she looked up to see Chiron shaking his head at them as he conducted the campers, giving them a little wink as he left.

The sound of him trudging down the beach was quite comforting, but she asked a serious question.

"Are you my boyfriend now?"

"Yes."

"Can you put me down now?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're not the only one with a good view, Percie."

"… ARCHIMEDES PUT ME DOWN THIS BLOODY SECOND BEFORE I CASTRATE YOU!"

When he put her down, she walloped him, punching him viciously as he apologised for his 'insensitive' perverted joke. They walked along the beach for a while with budding bruises on his arms.

"You know I was supposed to be getting work done right?"

"Yes, but I distracted you didn't I?" she smiled to herself (she was in the wrong mood to smirk).

Archimedes shook his head with mirth and nudged her softly to push her towards the surf. "Yeah… but you're not a bad distraction."

"Hmm?" She perked with interest.

"Yeah, you're actually a pretty good distraction. Gorgeous, funny, keeps me on my feet… you're the perfect distraction."

She smiled to herself. "I'm not gorgeous."

He sighed and stopped her, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead. "You're stupid."

"Fine; do you think you're cute?"

"No-"  
"YOU'RE STUPID TOO THEN."

Archimedes smiled. "You think I'm cute."  
"Of course you're cute, how else do you think you won me over?"

His hands started to come tauntingly close to her stomach and his fingers suddenly came down on her sides, tickling her to tears. It was ferocious and it was murderous. She screamed with laughter and tried to push him away feebly, only to not do a thing.

"Take it back!"

"N-noooo!" Percie said.

"Take it back!" he tickled harder until she cried out her surrender.

And like any normal guy would, he quickly claimed her lips. She smiled and cupped his face, before pulling back and whispering, "You know your two minute noodles are still waiting in your cabin."

"You're an idiot."

She smiled. "Well unfortunately for you, I'm _your_ idiot now, so tough luck."

He laughed. "At least you have your looks going for you."

"I have _everything_ going for me thank you very much."

"Are you sure? You're sort of annoying."

Percie pushed him away and playfully ran backwards. "Come on! I'll race you to your cabin!"  
"But I'll beat you."

"Are you sure?" she pressed her lips firmly against his until he melted into the kiss and pushed him backwards before running off.

He must've been scowling, because she heard him running after her. "You're going to get it Seaweed Brain!"

She laughed in reply and ran harder, being closely pursued by an –incredibly- cute boy.

Not a bad day. Percie thought of his lips on hers.

Not a bad day at all.

 **A/N That's it. This is the end.**

 **Well not really, but other than another fic that I'll post I might be done with the Genderbend Percabeth AU... but you never know I might post another if people enjoyed this! And if anyone has a particular question about this story they can send me a PM!**

 **-Blue**


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